The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-06-02
COL. FEIGHAN'S GRAFTON.
Delivered at the Abilene Cemetery,
May 80, 1887.
Mr.. Precedent, Comrades. Ladies and Gen

This j, day OF peculiar interest and sad |
ness. y lay when the loyal people gather |
in the cities of the dead, 10 honor the |
nation heroes, whose slunbers the IT of
battle c.tn ~ yer again disturb. Thsii leeds |
are done. ] = US their sacred menlUry re-
mains, q nations heritege of glory. 1t is Il
beautiful and loving CUSTOM 10 bring from
the floral wealth of spring, her choicest
flowers and strew the graves of those whose
last years on earth We're spent in toll and
danger-many of whom closed their eyes
forever, amid the thunders of battle.
When and how the custom originated l DO
not know, whether among the emancipated
negroes IN the south; or in the minds OF
few simple, loving children-matters little,
since to-day il is observed wherever there
are soldiers graves and loyal hsndsand
loving hearts, TO strew them with flowers.
Nature itself seems to share the nations
reverence and robing herself in regal
beauty contributes her floral magnifcence
to beautify the graves where sleep our hon.
ored dead. 1t is an occasion when the best
feelings of our nature are strained. When
the great heart of sixty millions OF people
throbs with subdued emotions.
Memorial day is alike cred1table to our
palr1otism and our affections. Here beside
the graves of those who offered up their
lives that the nation might live, we recall
the services and sacrifices of the living and
the dead, whose courage upon a thousand
battle fields challenged the admiration OF
the civilized world, and whose unselfish de-
votiOn 20 duty stands unequaled in the
worlds history. There is no need of stately
pile or costly urn to mark the resting place
OF our soldier dead. They need no monu
ment but their deeds; in lite they sought no
reward but reunited country. they asked no
promise but the nations good. With the
poet we might say:
"Eow sleep the brave who sink to rest,
By all their country's wishes blest?
When spring with dewy fingers cold,
Returns 10 deck their hallowed mould.
By fairy hands their knell is rung,
By FORMS music their dirge is sung.
Here honor comes, pilgrim grey,
To bless the dirt that wraps their clay"
The ties that bind us to our beloved dead
are never severed, but reaching from time
to eternity draws us closer to those who
have gone before, until at last our mortal
ewes can almost see, and our ears hear the
thrung that awaits US on the farthest shore
of the river of time, towards which we are
all swiftly drifting.
II is now more than quarter of a century
since the thunders of the cannon aimed at
Fort Sumpter awoke the nation from its
dream of peace-almost generation of men
have been born and died since that eventful
day, and yet how short a time it seems to US,
who were then actors IN Inc great uranla OF
war that followed.
| Since the surrender of the British at ork-
town, this country has been engaged in no
/ great WARRIOR nearly a score OF years, but
we our navy had been dispersed and our
armies disbanded. Our little standing
| army-less than single army corps in time
| of war was scattered upon our frontiers, or
| ouartered in small detachments throughout
/ the country. Less than 1000 men guarded
1 the peace and honor OF our vast domains.
We did not fear foreign 1nvaslons, and no
one dreamed that this fair gland of ours
| would ever be drenched in the blood of
fratricidal war.
No one realized the magnitude of
the sirnggl9f e gRon TW i1eh before we
Il when a conflict between freedmen and slav-
ery seemed imminent, the threatened dan
ger had been averted by compromise
/ resources of the other. The Call for 10000
men for three months shows how little even
the government at Washington realized our
danger Almost that number OF men fell in
one rrea1 battle before the war closed.
| To that first call the loyal north responded
with patriotic promptncss. Had an army of
quarter off million been called into eXls
renee then who can tell what devastation
might have been agerted? But the country
was in such supine condition, owing TO
traitors in the nations councils, that II was
found difficult to arm anu equip the small
army then called for, and The disastrous
conflicts ofthe early days OF the war proved
that il required skill and discipline as We'll
as bravery to make effective soldiers. NO
one,will say that the men who suffered is
a.trous defeat al Bulls Run were less brave
and patriotic than the men VINO hurried the
renel invaders back from northern soil at
Soldiers do not spring into existence
ready made as Minerva sprang full grown
from the blain OF Jupiter. Nature makes
heroes, but it requires training and discip
line to make soldiers. 1t eXcltes feeling OF
bounding pride even yet, to recall the brave
enthusiasm of the 7o,O0O men and boys VINO
responded to the first bugie blast. No Spar.
tan mother ever sent noDler sons to field of
battle. Providence provides some majestic
nature, with great brain and heart, as
leader in every crisis of the human race.
For this crisis there came from the humble
cabin of the frontier-prepared by toll and
hardship-the great statesman, the big
hearted philosopher, the type of the common
people-Abraham Lincoln. The strong hand
that had often held the helm of the fiat-boa
on the whirlpOols OF the Mississippi was now
grasping the helm of the ship of state, as it
dashed madly on towards rocks and break
ers, His conservatism at first seemed al
most timidity, but his caution prevented
many costly mistakes and gave time for the
growth of a national sentiment, winch was
essential to united and vigorous action at
the north, when at last he found that COM
promise and peace commissions were in
vain; that to temporiZe longer would not
only be cOwardlce, but treason. lie acted,
and acted promptly, and the terrible energy
of the last years of the war bear witness OF
of his power and earnestRess.
In 1851 the nation not only found itself
without an army, but with an empty treas
ury, and questionable credit. The so, 100000
necessary for annual current expenses eX-
ceeded the revenues of the government
from 1858 10 1860. In addition to an empty
treasury, the beginning of the war found us
with a national debt, and our securities sell |
ing in the markets OF the world al large
The situation was indeed ppalling. Eleven
states in open rebellion-the camps OF the |
enemy almost in sight of the national capt. |
tol-no money-no army, and with credit
greatly impaired. For nearly a half century
the south had not only controlled national |
legislation, but had filled the chief places in
om army. Both the leaders in the Mexican |
war were from the south. Always brave
and chiyalrlc people, the civilization and |
habits at the south had made military calling |
more coDgenial to them than to their more |
thrifty and industrious neighbOrS at the |
north, and the few skeleton regiments com |
prising our regular army were chiefly offic- |
cred by southern men. But the blood of the |
patriots of Bunker Hill and Lundy's Lane
still coursed in the veins of the men of the |
north, and it needed but the occasion TO call |
put heroes as staunch and brave as ever suf- |
fered at Valley Forge or crossed bayonets |
with HeSSlan or British regulars at Brandy /
Wine.
the sire OF rs.
n is hard even now to realize the magni- |
Jude of the struggle that commenced at Font |
Sumpter, and after four years of destruction |
md carnage, ended at Appomottox. The /
army that look the Held In 1861 would hardly |
orm skirmish line for the Iegions of veter- |
ms that marched to victory in 1865,
During the war ?, 200 600 men were mustered |
INTO the union army, aud ,lOC, coo men on the
side. Nearly 80 O0Omen fell in
)attle and by disease in both armies and al
most 100000 on she union side alone. The
lnion dead, if drawn up in single rank.
would form a line almost across the state OF |
Kansas and the MANNED and wounded and
hose broken by disease and hardship would
orm line double as long. Such appalling
'acrifice of lie mas no parallel in modern
warfare. Added to this, the destruction OF
property that left communities and states
and helpless, and the sorrow
md misery that brooded over the land like
pail, and we have picture Of horror rival
ing in its CHASTITY features the bloodtest
period of ancient or modern times, The re-
suits of the war were as splendid as they |
we're CHASTITY. The soldier may have fallen |
Ind been forgotten in the noise and smoke
If battle, but his life was not sacrificed in |
7ain.
"A thousand glorious actions that might
claim